It could be a lucrative night in Washington, D.C., for a number of fighters on Sunday.
The highly anticipated UFC event on the White House lawn finally takes place on June 14, with MMA’s leading promotion helping celebrate 250 years of American independence.
UFC Freedom 250 features two title fights and a number of stars, with lightweight champion Ilia Topuria’s unification fight against Justin Gaethje headlining after Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane first battle for interim heavyweight gold.
Those names will no doubt be among the event’s highest earners, but every fighter now has the chance to further boost their UFC White House paychecks.
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Dana White reveals huge performance bonus increases for UFC Freedom 250 at the White House
A $1 million crypto bonus for UFC Freedom 250 had already been announced by the promotion, but that is not the only additional prize on offer for Sunday’s fighters.
During the customary pre-fight press conference, which took place at Lincoln Memorial on Friday night, Dana White announced sizable increases to the ‘Fight of the Night’ and ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses.
They were increased from $50k to $300k for UFC 300 in 2024. They’ve gone even bigger this time, with the new $100k bonuses this year quadrupling to $400k for the two stars who put on the FOTN and $425K for the POTN winners.
That increase comes as the UFC splashes $60 million on the UFC Freedom 250 event, which includes a limited capacity of 4,300 VIPs on the south lawn of the White House.
That is in addition to a Fan Fest at the Ellipse that could have over 80,000 fans in attendance.
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News of the bonus increase will no doubt come as music to the ears of Gaethje. Many will already be calling it a certainty that he takes home one of the boosted checks.
Gaethje is a bonus machine in the UFC, having collected some form of bonus after 13 of his 15 fights in MMA’s leading promotion.